Forest no place for barbed wires

Visitors to
Bukit Kiara were appalled to see barbed wire at the park, believed to have been
installed by National Landscape Department (JLN) workers recently.

The barbed
wire was spotted in at least two locations with one very close to a popular
bike trail.

Friends of
Bukit Kiara (FoBK) pro-tem chairman Tan Sri Salleh Mohd Nor said it was
ridiculous to use barbed wire in a public park.

“Apart from
the danger that the wires pose to the public, they also prevent the migration
of wild animals in the park.”

Malaysian
Nature Society (MNS) vice-president Henry Goh said the use of barbed wire in a
public park was dangerous.

“The use of
concertina razor barbed wire barriers in public parks are banned in some
countries. They can cause injury to park users.

“Imagine a
cyclist crashing into one of them. Other types of accidents could also occur,”
he said.

Goh added
that the barbed wire barrier should be removed immediately before any untoward
incident occurs.

Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng also questioned the need for barbed
wire. “There is absolutely no need for barbed wire in a forested park because
users might be injured by it especially when they are running or cycling in the
early hours or late evening or when it rains,” he said, when contacted.

Meanwhile,
in a tweet on April 11, via JLN’s official Twitter account @NegaraTaman, the
department said: “Barbed wire diletakkan sementara sebelum isu sempadan
diselesaikan.” (Barbed wire was placed temporarily while the boundary issue is
being resolved).

Attempts to
clarify the matter with JLN proved unsuccessful.

Salleh said
that the boundary between the government and a private corporation should have
been resolved first, before using a safer material to demarcate the border.

Bukit Kiara
stakeholders have also long been campaigning for the 188.9ha piece of land to
be gazetted as a green lung.

Park
users and environmentalists have also been pushing the 3.5m-high fence project
along a 4.7km stretch to demarcate the area to be removed.